Euroleague Top 16 Round 8, recap
The second half of the Top 16 is underway in the Euroleague and Round 8 proved a typically exciting week of games.
Hoops fans across the continent were treated to dramatic Basketball aplenty as the games got tight. Most of the clashes on Thursday and Friday went close to the wire, and one even extended into overtime, while only two teams traveled and won. Both Group E and Group F are jammed in the middle as teams jostle for a position in the next round.
Group E
It was business as usual for FC Barcelona as the Spanish team traveled to Turkey and gunned down Anadolu Efes 84-89, but needed overtime to get the job done. Ante Tomic put in an astounding performance (26 points and 15 rebounds) to elevate Barca during their 300th game in the Euroleague this century. The Catalan giant now sits pretty at the top of the group with an 8-0 record, while Efes stays in seventh with a 2-6 record. Full Game Report
EA7 Armani Milano continued to impress by holding on to close out Panathinaikos Athens 77-75 in the Italian fashion capital. The hosts took a sweeping 41-23 lead at halftime thanks to eight triples during the first and second periods. However, The Greens rallied in the second half and stormed back into the game, making Milan hold on at the brink. Milan has been the surprise package of the Euroleague Top 16 and improves to second in Group E with a 5-3 record. Panathinaikos drops to 5th as one of four teams locked at 4-4.
An all-Spanish contest saw Unicaja Malaga travel to Laboral Kutxa Vitoria and claim a 71-81 win. Even though the visitors eased off down the stretch, it was an easy win for Malaga, with the south coast club holding a commanding 24-27 halftime lead and never looking back. Unicaja joins three other clubs with a 4-4 record tied for third place, while Laboral´s European adventure is crumbling as the team sits last with 1-7.
Fenerbahce continued its Euroleague Top 16 fortunes by outgunning current champs Olympiacos 78-74 in Istanbul. It was a third win in a row for Fenerbahce as Linas Kleiza (21) and Bo McCalebb (20) combined for more than half of the teams´ points. Both Fener and Olympiacos are locked at 4-4 in Group E. Full Game Report
Group F
It was a crushing humiliation for Maccabi Electra Tel-Aviv at the hands of CSKA last week, but the Israeli powerhouse recovered admirably in Round 8. The former champions cruised to a 97-81 home win over Galatasaray Liv Hospital. The hosts led by two numbers at the midway stage and used a 12-0 run in the third to make it a 25 point game, and there was only going to be one winner from there. Tel-Aviv stays on track in third place and a 6-2 record while Galatasaray shared 5th with Lokomotiv at 3-5.
CSKA Moscow hosted Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in a Russian derby. CSKA scraped a 94-93 win over a Lokomotiv team that has been characterized by its fighting quality in the Regular Season and the Euroleague Top 16. The hosts controlled the first half but Lokomotiv stormed back in the second half to tie the game at 68-68 after thirty minutes of play. Milos Teodosic was phenomenal for CSKA in the final frame and scored 15 points to propel the team to success.
Real Madrid continued to steamroller its way through the Euroleague with a commanding 80-57 home win over Partizan NIS Belgrade. Los Blancos never looked in trouble as Sergio Llull and Sergio Rodriguez struck 19 points each on the way to victory. Madrid stays locked with CSKA at the top of Group F, both teams with a 7-1 record, while Partizan remains in seventh at 1-7.
Bayern Munich continued its solid Euroleague Top 16 form by outlasting Zalgiris Kaunas 79-73 in Germany. The hosts relied on a fourth quarter rally to seal the win and have now won two in a row to move to 4th in the group with a 4-4 record. Zalgiris continues to struggle and remains rooted to the bottom of the table with a 1-7 record.